Stardate: 60824:2135
Title: Company, Part 2
Author: Ensign Yonatan Levi, Flight Ops Officer
Time: After "Company, Part 1"
Scene: Sickbay, Mess Hall
Walking down the corridor Yoni headed to the nearest turbolift access. He
intended to make it to his room and get ready before the dinner was served.
Still wondering why the Lieutenant was calling him to attend to this meal (he
wasn't even sure what the occasion was), he pondered the possible reasons for
such invitation.
Numerous reasons came to his mind, from an opportunity to push Yoni toward a
quick promotion in front of the Captain to a large-scale plot against him
intending to end his quick career as a commissioned officer, a result of the
skirmish that took place earlier that day at the hangar bay. But what kept
bugging him was a thought that this was some kind of diplomatic event.
*We have encountered something* a voice kept speaking in his mind *the dinner is
an invitation to what will come next. A message toward a greater truth.*
Not knowing the reason or the source for that thought, Yoni tried to fight it,
to push it out of his mind. Yoni was unsuccessful in pushing the thought away,
the tiny mysterious voice echoing in his head, leaving him with a vague doubt.
He decided to ignore it at that moment, as the thought was only faint and wasn't
really bringing him any mental suffering.
Finally, the voice went quiet but the idea was still running in Yoni's mind.
Eventually he arrived at his quarters. Quickly after entering it he took off his
shirt, throwing it on the small desk in the corner of the room. His roommate
wasn't present at the time, and Yoni has the compartment for himself. He sat
down and lighted on the display screen on the table. He had two new messages in
his inbox: One from Flight Control presenting a summery of the day's activity
and the condition of the different support craft. Another one was a daily
briefing by the ship's quartermaster.
He turned off the monitor and stood up, canceling the thought of any immediate
importance in these messages. He was approaching his locker to take out a clean
shirt, when the thought hit him again, calling him to investigate the
Quartermaster's report.
*You should catch up with the recent events it said. You should find out what
happened next after we left the planet*
This time Yoni became more suspicious. Realizing the thought wasn't originally
his. He decided to focus on the thought, trying to find out where it emerged. He
tried to get a hold of this thought but it vanished away, living him with a big
question mark. He let go and the thought floated again. He tried to reach it and
it was gone. Like a voice coming from a dream, a dream that disappeared every
time a person tried to remember its details. Yoni didn't give up and tried
tracking down that thought. It kept hiding from him in segments of memories,
building a path to his past, that way Yoni was observing a lot of memories he
managed to forget or didn't find any importance in them.
Eventually he gave up, and only then the memory of the alien laying down in
sickbay struck him. This time he was full of life, cheerful, smiling, moving. A
very different image from what he saw before. At this point he didn't manage to
connect the two. The thought again disappeared and he managed to change his
clothes. He fell down on his bed, resting his legs. He took off his boots and
socks, glancing on the watch that was hanged on the wall.
In twenty minutes he should attend that dinner.
=^= Mess Hall =^=
The mess hall was crowded with people, most of them dressed in their formal
dress uniforms, some of them were wearing their race symbols as permitted by the
dress code of Starfleet. They were gathered in groups or they stood alone gazing
at the open skies that were viewable from the large window at the end of the
room. For one moment Yoni felt a little nervous for not arriving in his dress
uniforms as well. He was about to turn around and rush back to his quarters to
change quickly his dress, when a figure at the end of the room waved toward him.
It was Lieutenant Edward Greenhill, the acting Chief of Operations. He
approached him quickly, holding two glasses of a white drink in his hands. He
handed one of to the young ensign.
"You do understand that what you did today was a violation of orders for not
reporting to your shift at time. It will be noted in your personal file as well
as in your performance record that you didn't attended your first shift on the
bridge" Greenhill opened up with a smile on his face, as usual.
*Great* thought Yoni to himself *second time I've stumbled into my superior.
Pretty much a nice start on my first assignment.*
"I must admit, for such a young officer you do manage to collect bad points. You
didn't even manage to interview your department but you did find time for a
walk" Greenhill continued salting the wounds.
Yoni said nothing, and when a thought, the same voice from before raised up
calling him to question the Lieutenant. Yoni silenced it quickly.
"The reason I've summoned you here is because the XO made it clear that the Ops
Department should send two representatives to this meal. Since Ensign Lora was
relieved from a double-shift duty, which she had to take because of you, it's
down to you to escort me here today."
"So who's managing the bridge?" Yoni asked innocently.
"Warrant Officer Torena, the senior shift supervisor."
It was unlikely for a non-commissioned officer to attend to a bridge duty. But
since Greenhill didn't want to harm the chain of command in his department he
preferred to make an exception and send his most senior NCO to the bridge while
pulling his last commissioned officer he had left to the meal.
"Enjoy your dinner, Ensign. Sit close to me and try to speak little as possible.
You have any questions, come to me first. Don't bug the senior staff about minor
issues and don't use this opportunity to bring up any new ideas to the Captain's
table today. You are only two days aboard, I've seen much more experienced
officers paving their way down for being brave but foolish. Next time I have to
give that lecture you'll be pacing toward the Captain's office."
Yoni nodded while Greenhill turned and walked away. He breathed nervously and
tapped on his glass without noticing it. The voice returned to bug him again.
================
Ensign Yonaton Levi
Operations Officer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
================
